There are a number of different types of sliding-seat rowing shells. Principal types are four-oared and eight-oared shells with coxswain, in which each rower pulls a single oar. Successive rowers pull oars that, typically, are on opposite sides of the shell. Such shells are expensive, and it has been necessary for competitors in both four- and eight-oared events to possess shells of each configuration. A third type of sliding-seat rowing shell is a training shell, a wide, stable design where beginners can learn how to row.
A number of U.S. Pat. Nos. 43,084, 520,823, 544,676, 670,942, 842,349, 957,820, 1,127,842, 1,258,745, 1,337,781, 1,449,222, 2,406,085, 2,741,782, 3,348,246, and 3,965,513, disclose boats that can be taken apart for storage or transportation, and then reassembled in a predetermined single configuration for use. U.S. Pat. No. 697,539 discloses a three-section boat the pieces of which may be assembled either as an ordinary-shaped boat or as a catamaran. U.S. Pat. No. 2,666,933 discloses a multi-section boat in which between eight and fourteen sections may be connected together to form a boat for one to four persons. An approximately 100 foot long "dragon boat" made up from various sectional components is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,781. A ten-man training shell at the University of Washington was constructed by cutting a conventional eight-oared shell in half and inserting a short center section so that ten rowers could practice at once.